Comparative study of greater occipital nerve block and conventional therapy in chronic migraine

TL;DR

This study compares a nerve block treatment with standard care for chronic migraine, finding the nerve block more effective at reducing pain and disability.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that ultrasound-guided greater occipital nerve block improves outcomes compared to conventional therapy for chronic migraine.

Findings

The block group had a greater reduction in migraine disability scores compared to the conventional group.

Patients receiving the block reported lower pain scores and higher satisfaction.

Ultrasound-guided nerve block was found to be safe and effective with reduced medication use.

Abstract

Chronic migraine is disabling and medicines alone are often not enough so ultrasound guided greater occipital nerve block is used as
an add-on therapy. We observed 100 patients where one group received prophylaxis with the block and the other received only prophylaxis
with follow up of 90 days. The block group showed a bigger fall in migraine disability score (14.2 to 6.8 vs 14.3 to 9.2 p < 0.0001),
lower VAS score (7.9 to 4.4 vs 7.1 to 6.0 p < 0.0001) and fewer headache episodes early and higher satisfaction (12.7 vs 12.3
p = 0.016). Ultrasound guided block was safe and simple and gave better pain relief with reduced medicine use and improved patient
satisfaction.